Where those associated with Western films from around the world are laid to rest.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

RIP Bill Chaudet

Magician Bill Chaudet dies at 91

Worked as technical adviser, hand double for film, TV

By Variety Staff

Magician Louis William "Bill" Chaudet, a
protege of Harry Blackstone Sr. and a technical adviser for film and television
during the 1950s and 1960s, died in Folsom, Calif., on Jan. 5 after a long
battle with Alzheimer's. He was 91.

Chaudet, who was
member No. 8 of Hollywood's Magic Castle, either appeared on camera or served
as an adviser on feature films including the original "Ocean's
Eleven," "Cheyenne Autumn" and "The Trouble With
Girls," and TV shows including "The Mickey Mouse Club,"
"Gunsmoke," "Burke's Law," "Gilligan's Island,"
"The Big Valley," "My Favorite Martian," "The Wild,
Wild West," "Get Smart," "Mission: Impossible,"
"The Steve Allen Show," "The Donald O'Connor Show,"
"The Merv Griffin Show," "I've Got a Secret" and "The
Mike Douglas Show."

For film or TV, Chaudet's hands would often replace the
star's in order to accomplish the necessary sleight-of-hand or gambling moves
for the scene. Chaudet was the hand double for Jimmy Stewart, Arthur Kennedy
and John Carradine in the film "Cheyenne Autumn." As he once
explained, "First, they'd put me in Jimmy Stewart's coat and shoot me as
his hands doing all of my card work, and then I'd do the same in John
Carradine's coat and so on."

Inspired to become a magician after seeing Harry
Blackstone Sr. perform, Chaudet traveled with the Blackstone Magic Show as an
assistant and was eventually named Blackstone's chosen successor in 1947,
though he later returned the "successor" title to the Blackstone
family when Harry Blackstone Jr. chose to enter the profession.

By 1960, Chaudet began getting calls to serve as technical
adviser for television shows, and he began a long relationship with the
producers at CBS Studio Center and the TV show "Gunsmoke."

Chaudet grew up in Hollywood. His father, Louis Chaudet
Sr., was a writer and director for the Nestor Film Co.; his mother, Allene
Chaudet, was a vaudeville musician who later served as piano teacher to Gloria
Swanson and Shirley Temple. Family friends included Harold Lloyd, Mary
Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Will Rogers.

Chaudet is survived by his wife, Emmy, and a daughter
from his first marriage.

About Me

Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1946 I have a BA degree in American History from Cal St. Northridge. I've been researching the American West and western films since the early 1980s and visiting filming sites in Spain and the U.S.A. Elected a member of the Spaghetti Western Hall of Fame 2010.